PORTY PATHWAYS
Welcome to Porty Pathways
At Portobello High School, we are committed to "Achieving Together", ensuring that every young person receives the guidance and support needed to make informed choices about their future. Our Porty Pathways website is designed to empower students and families with clear, accessible information about course choices and the wide range of opportunities available beyond school.
Guided by our core values of respect, confidence, learning, opportunity, and community, we believe that every learner should have the chance to explore their strengths and ambitions. Whether you are considering further education, an apprenticeship, employment, or even a gap year, Porty Pathways provides essential insights and guidance to help you navigate the journey ahead.
Our goal is to equip all young people with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to make decisions that support their aspirations. Through high-quality learning experiences, strong partnerships with colleges, universities, employers, and community organisations, and a commitment to inclusion, attainment, and achievement, we ensure that every student can take the next step with clarity and purpose.
Porty Pathways is more than a course choice guide—it is a roadmap to your future. We invite you to explore the resources available and take full advantage of the opportunities that lie ahead.
The Progress Pathway Centre at Portobello High School
A Flexible, Inclusive Support Structure for Young People Experiencing Barriers to School
Engagement
Overview
The Progress Pathway Centre is Portobello High School’s inclusive and responsive
framework designed to meet the needs of young people who are unable to engage fully
with mainstream education. It offers a continuum of support within the school and
through targeted outreach provisions, supporting young people at risk of or experiencing
Emotionally Based School Non-Attendance (EBSNA).
This structure has been developed in line with the City of Edinburgh Council’s latest
EBSNA toolkit, the GIRFEC staged assessment framework, and the Vision for Inclusion,
ensuring that all young people are present, participating, supported, and achieving.
At the heart of this approach is a clear and ambitious goal: to ensure that every young
person is ultimately supported to re-engage with school life, build confidence, and
achieve their full potential, regardless of the challenges they face. Whether through in-
school provision or outreach support, the Progress Pathway Centre is committed to
providing flexible, relational, and strength-based interventions that remove barriers,
promote resilience, and keep young people connected to learning and their school
community.
Pilot programme
A recent pilot programme at the Porty Wash House, delivered on Wednesday mornings,
has shown promising results in re-engaging some of our most disengaged young people,
including those with long-term school avoidance or sporadic attendance. Supported by
their parents or carers, these young people have begun to reconnect with learning in a
safe, structured environment, often for the first time in many months or years.
Following consultation with our EBSNA parent/carer reference group, we have
committed to expanding this provision, offering greater continuity and structure
throughout the week. This scaled-up model will remain grounded in the successful
elements of the pilot, including family involvement and flexibility, and is expected to
support over 100 young people to improve their engagement and attendance, offering a
meaningful route back into education. The full details of the provision are outlined below.
Structure of the Progress Pathway Centre
The Progress Pathway Centre comprises three key delivery strands:
1. In-School Provision (Full time provision delivered by a teacher and PSO) 8.30am-
3.25pm, 4-5pm(for young people to access the building out of hours and begin to
transition back into school)
Located within Portobello High School, this setting provides:
• A calm and nurturing learning environment
• Personalised support for young people unable to manage a full timetable
• Structured interventions aimed at re-engagement and reintegration into
mainstream classes
• Continued access to national qualifications and therapeutic input
• A consistent link to the wider school community and peer relationships
Outreach Provision: A recent pilot programme, Wash House
Outreach provision offers flexibility, reduced sensory stimulation, and bespoke
engagement routes. It includes:
a. The Porty Wash House (10am-12pm Mon-Fri)
• Supports young people with significant anxiety, social withdrawal, or sensory
needs
• Offers National 4 and 5 Literacy and Numeracy, art therapy, and developing
science provision (theory on-site, practical elements in school)
• Delivers weekly outdoor learning experiences through bushcraft and forest skills,
enhancing resilience and confidence
• Facilitates a gradual reintegration plan led by school staff
• Strong focus on school affiliation and emotional safety
b. Branch Out Together Unit (2-3.30pm Mon-Thu)
• A community-based provision offering structured, in-person support in a quiet,
inclusive environment
• Delivers tailored programmes with therapeutic, wellbeing, and academic
components
• Particularly beneficial for young people who need a non-school setting but who
remain closely tied to Portobello High School
• Acts as a step forward or a bridge back into the school environment or wider
community learning opportunitiesc. Virtual Support and Home Learning Pathways (Delivered by Middle Leaders and
teachers)
• Supports young people unable to attend in person due to severe anxiety, health,
or additional support needs
• Offers online learning, mentoring, and check-ins from school-based staff
• Enables continuity of education while a reintegration or in-person plan is
developed
Developed in collaboration with parents/carers and external partners
TA core value of the Progress Pathway Centre is the recognition that effective,
sustainable support must be developed in partnership with families. Our work is guided
by the NeuroTrack framework, created by Team Square Peg* which has been co-
produced with parents and carers of neurodivergent young people, and those
experiencing Emotionally Based School Non-Attendance (EBSNA).
This framework acknowledges that parents and carers are the experts in their child’s
needs and that meaningful progress requires schools to engage with families as equal
partners in planning and delivery.
NeuroTrack supports us to:
• Listen to the voices of families and avoid making assumptions about motivation,
engagement, or behaviour.
• Agree and implement collaborative, reasonable adjustments—often small but
powerful changes that can significantly reduce barriers to learning.
• Build plans that are tailored, respectful, and rooted in lived experience.
• Be proactive and preventative, working with families before difficulties escalate.
Core Aims & Alignment with Policy
• Relationship-based practice
• A focus on early intervention and anxiety reduction
• Creating a safe, structured and predictable learning environment
• Using graded exposure and personalised reintegration plans
2. School-Led, Not External
Crucially, the provision remains school-based and school-led, with:
• Staffing by Portobello High School’s Senior Leadership, Curriculum Leaders, Sfl
Leader, Pupil Support Officers and Support Workers,
• Strong, deliberate links back to the mainstream curriculum, culture, and
community
• A consistent message to young people and families that they remain Portobello
learners
3. Addressing Primary Non-Attendance and Transition Breakdown
The Progress Pathway Centre will expand across the Portobello Learning Community,
with a focus on:
• Early intervention for primary-aged learners
• Responding to non-attendance in P6/7 that continues into S1
• Bridging support at transition, using outreach and in-reach planning to maintain
engagement.
Key Features Across All Strands
• Flexible timetables tailored to individual needs
• Access to national qualifications and alternative accreditation
• Therapeutic interventions, including art therapy and emotional literacy
• A strong focus on outdoor learning and wellbeing
• Ongoing engagement with parents and carers
• Use of EBSNA planning tools, including pupil voice, assessment of need, and
push/pull factor analysis• Multi-agency working, including links with CAMHS Tier 2, educational
psychology, and community partners
Conclusion
TThe Progress Pathway Centre is a robust, dynamic framework that reflects a whole-
school commitment to inclusion, flexibility and emotional wellbeing. With in-school
support and flexible outreach through the Porty Wash House, Branch Out Together, and
virtual pathways, it ensures that no young person is left behind.
By maintaining a clear focus on reconnection, relationships, and readiness to learn, this
model demonstrates what is possible when a school takes ownership of support
provision – aligning practice with policy, responding to need with compassion, and
enabling every young person to find their pathway to success.
Future Developments: Partnership with the Edinburgh Family Support Partnership
As part of our ongoing commitment to holistic, early intervention support, the Progress
Pathway Centre is exploring opportunities to work in collaboration with the Edinburgh
Family Support Partnership, a newly formed, multi-agency team comprising social
workers, family group decision-making coordinators, and practitioners from Safe
Families, Barnardo’s, Children 1st, and Edinburgh Community Food. With a focus on
early, relationship-based support for families, the Partnership’s developing community
‘pop-up’ model could align well with the Progress Pathway Centre provision. There is
potential to pilot a parent/carer drop-in session to run alongside Wash House activities,
offering advice and support for families, particularly as we expand to include primary-
aged children. This development would strengthen the link between school, home and
community, and ensure families are meaningfully supported alongside the young
people in our care.